Navigating Your Later Years For Dummies

Long-Term Care: Planning for Finance, Medical, and Living Expenses

We're living exciting bonus years--decades that our parents and grandparents didn't have. But how to navigate this complex terrain? Questions abound around long-term care planning: Where to live? How to get the best medical care? What to do about advance directives, wills and trusts, and estate planning? And how to pay for it all after you retire? Getting accurate information and answers wasn't easy. Until now.

AARP's Navigating Your Later Years For Dummies helps you and your family understand the growing range of opportunities. Even more importantly, it helps you chart the next steps to live the life you choose, as independently as you choose, no matter your specific circumstances and needs. This book:

• Covers home modifications so that you can stay at home safely for as long as you like

• Lays out the opportunities and costs associated with independent living, assisted living and other options

• Gives you a range of driving and transportation alternatives

• Helps you navigate the healthcare system, Medicare, and Medicaid

• Sorts out the various sources of care at home

• Reviews the legal documents you should prepare and update

• Helps you determine whether you need long-term care insurance

• Gives you guidance on talking with your family about sensitive issues, including your wishes as you age

With this new comprehensive book, you'll get the credible information and resources you need to face the challenges facing us as we live the life we choose. Here, finally, is a roadmap for you and your family to best understand, and plan ahead.

Autorentext

Carol Levine directs the Families and Health Care Project at the United Hospital Fund in New York. She is an expert on aging, health, long-term care, and family caregiving, and writes on those topics for both professional and consumer audiences.

Klappentext

• Consider healthcare and insurance options
• Talk with family about finances and other tough issues

• Learn about housing choices and downsizing Aging is changing. Choose how you want to live. We're living exciting bonus yearsdecades our parents and grandparents didn't have. But navigating this terrain can be complex. Is long-term care insurance worth the expense? How can I stay in my home as long as possible? What steps should I take to protect myself and my family for years to come? How do I find the best healthcare? Which legal documents do I really need? This guide gives you the expert advice you need, whether you're planning for yourself or a loved one.

• Inexpensive and easy home modifications
• Independent and assisted living
• Community services
• Medicare and Medicaid help
• Transportation options

Zusammenfassung
Long-Term Care: Planning for Finance, Medical, and Living Expenses

We're living exciting bonus yearsdecades that our parents and grandparents didn't have. But how to navigate this complex terrain? Questions abound around long-term care planning: Where to live? How to get the best medical care? What to do about advance directives, wills and trusts, and estate planning? And how to pay for it all after you retire? Getting accurate information and answers wasn't easy. Until now.

AARP's Navigating Your Later Years For Dummies helps you and your family understand the growing range of opportunities. Even more importantly, it helps you chart the next steps to live the life you choose, as independently as you choose, no matter your specific circumstances and needs. This book:

• Covers home modifications so that you can stay at home safely for as long as you like
• Lays out the opportunities and costs associated with independent living, assisted living and other options
• Gives you a range of driving and transportation alternatives
• Helps you navigate the healthcare system, Medicare, and Medicaid
• Sorts out the various sources of care at home
• Reviews the legal documents you should prepare and update
• Helps you determine whether you need long-term care insurance
• Gives you guidance on talking with your family about sensitive issues, including your wishes as you age
  With this new comprehensive book, you'll get the credible information and resources you need to face the challenges facing us as we live the life we choose. Here, finally, is a roadmap for you and your family to best understand, and plan ahead.

Inhalt

Introduction 1

About This Book 1

Foolish Assumptions 3

Icons Used in This Book 4

Beyond the Book 4

Where to Go from Here 4

Part 1: Getting Started With Navigating Your Later Years 5

Chapter 1: Looking Ahead: The Big Picture 7

Planning for the Future Starts with You 7

Navigating the Roadblocks of Planning 8

Reasons for resistance 9

The benefits of planning 9

Unraveling the Meaning of Long-Term Care 10

Defining long-term services and supports 11

Understanding what Medicare covers 12

Discovering How Your Options Are Changing 13

Looking at why changes are being made 13

Keeping up with insider language 15

Meeting Your Changing Needs 16

Location, location, location 17

Timing and flexibility 18

Getting Professional Advice 19

Chapter 2: A Personal Inventory: Past, Present, and Future 21

Looking at the Present and the Future 22

Healthcare needs 22

Family, friends, and professionals 24

Personality characteristics 25

Attitudes about money 26

Creating a Plan Based on Your Profile 28

Drawing a CareMap to Visualize Your Profile 29

Chapter 3: Finding Services 31

Where to Turn for Help 31

Organizing your research 33

Federal government programs 34

State and local programs 36

Community-based organizations 38

Taking Your Research to the Next Level: Site Visits for Housing 40

Tips for your tours 40

Federal and state regulations 41

Chapter 4: Making Decisions: A Family Affair 43

Holding Family Meetings 44

Who should be included? 44

When should you get together? 45

What should be on the agenda? 45

Being Considerate of Others 47

Allocating responsibilities 48

Bringing in the outer circle 50

Dealing with Conflict 51

Mediators and counselors 51

Consensus and compromise 52

Part 2: Choosing Where to Live 53

Chapter 5: Staying in Your Home 55

Staying at Home in Your Community 55

Dealing with Two Major Hazards 56

Preventing falls 57

Preventing burns 59

Modifying a Home 60

Categorizing types of home modifications 60

Checking out accessibility 61

Finding a contractor 63

Getting help paying for home modifications 63

Seeking Help at Home 65

Allocating tasks to family 65

Searching for services 66

Finding help for other chores 66

Putting technology to use 67

Preparing for an Emergency 68

Creating a support network 69

Making an emergency plan 69

Putting together a disaster kit 71

Chapter 6: Under One Roof: Generations Living Together 73

Multigenerational Living: Everything Old Is New Again 74

Why different generations are living together 74

Defining family households by generation 75

Considering family reactions before making a decision 76

Where Should We All Live? Considering the Options 78

Having a relative move in with you 79

Preparing to move into your parent's home 81

Making fair financial arrangements 82

Making the Move 84

Getting started 84

Planning ahead 85

Sorting and packing 85

Settling in 86

Checking In over the Long Haul 86

Chapter 7: Downsizing for Now and Later 87

The Emotional Aspects of Downsizing 88 Downsizing and Home...